Or, you could just hook a nice heavy jumper cable from the negative battery
terminal to the body, and see if the cranking speeds up. If it does, that
battery ground is shot.

At 08:09 AM 8/9/2006 -0700, gary hradek wrote:
>Ken,
>     A ground cable could get hot because it is bad but
>it could get hot because it is pulling too heavy of a
>load.   I would start by measuring the amps and
>comparing it to another van taking a reading at the
>same point.   If the load is greater on the slow
>moving van than that would suggest the cable is good.
>The bushing idea is good.   If you jump start will the
>starter turn faster or just longer?   Take care not to
>cook the new starter testing the problem and keep us
>updated.  I do so like a good mystery.   Gary
>Date:    Tue, 8 Aug 2006 14:46:55 -0400
>From:    Kenneth Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
>Subject: Having a problem with a starter
>
>I am having a strange electrical problem with an 84
>Vanagon GL with =
>manual
>transmission.  The van came in with a "not starting
>when hot" problem =
>and
>also a slow spinning over starter.  I found a problem
>with the temp II
>sensor wiring and fixed that easily.  However the slow
>spinning starter
>=
>has
>me stumped at the moment.  I thought the problem was
>just that the old
>starter was hurt because the woman kept spinning the
>thing over when it
>wouldn't start.  I tried putting in new ground straps
>on the engine and
>=
>also
>a new one on the transmission but this didn't help at
>all.  Next I
>tried
>replacing the starter with a new one and this did not
>fix the problem.
>=
>The
>strange thing that I have noticed is that as I am
>trying to crank the =
>van
>over the ground wire on the battery gets extremely
>hot.  At one point
>it =
>was
>smoking hot. =20
>
>Anyone have a clue on this one?  It seems like
>something is shorting =
>out,
>but I can't figure out what that would be.  I would
>appreciate any =
>advice
>you have on this one as it is causing me much head
>stratching.=20
>
>Thanks,
>Ken Wilford
>John 3:16
>http://www.vanagain.com
>http://www.strictlyvwauctions.com
>http://www.eurovan.org
>http://www.vwcabrio.org
>Phone:
>(856)-327-4936
>Fax: (856)-327-2242=20
>
>
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>http://mail.yahoo.com